The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a special structure in the body that helps to protect the brain from unwanted toxins and germs. Unfortunately, this barrier can also make it extremely difficult for therapeutics to reach their intended target within brain. This requires the modification of the therapeutic drugs to allow them to cross the BBB and enter the brain where they can reach their target and be effective. Testing which chemical modifications act to improve accessibility of therapeutics to the brain can be a long and expensive process. At LLNL, we are combining experimental techniques with computational methods, making use of some of the fastest supercomputers in the world, to speed up the process of optimizing therapeutics to cross the BBB.

Plus: Awakenings (PG-13~1990) In this film, Dr. Malcolm Sayer takes a job at a Bronx psychiatric hospital and is put in charge of several seemingly catatonic patients. Under Sayer’s painstaking guidance, they begin responding to certain stimuli. Sayer is then given permission to test a new drug on one of his patients.